Look at I/O together | The new Google Play SDK index helps you choose the right SDK for your application

By Yafit Becher, Product Manager & Ray Brusca, Strategic Partnerships Manager

App developers rely on SDKs to integrate key features and services into their apps and games. While SDKs are an essential building block in development, developers also say that figuring out which SDKs are reliable and safe to use can be difficult. Therefore, helping developers make informed decisions when choosing an SDK is critical to making Google Play a safe, trusted platform for billions of people .

We launched the Google Play SDK Console in 2020 to provide SDK vendors with crash reports, usage statistics, and the ability to communicate critical issues with app developers through the Google Play Console and Android Studio. Today, we took another step forward to deepen communication and increase transparency with the launch of the Google Play SDK Index , a new public site featuring over 100 of the most widely used commercial SDKs, along with insights for each SDK .

△ The Google Play SDK index provides reliability and security data, allowing you to determine whether an SDK is right for your business and users

You can search for an SDK directly , or by category such as " Advertising and Monetization " or " Data Analytics ". For each included SDK, the Google Play SDK Index combines usage data from Google Play apps with the results of SDK code inspections to provide insights to help you determine whether an SDK is right for your business and users . You can see in the index:

• What application permissions the SDK may request;
• Whether the SDK vendor is committed to ensuring that its SDK code follows Google Play policies;
• Version adoption;
• Retention metrics, etc.

SDK vendors can also share with you key information about their SDKs registered with the Google Play SDK Console, such as:

• Which SDK version is out of date or has a critical issue
• Provides links to data security guidelines, including what data the SDK collects and why, so that you can fill out the data security form for your app.

No matter where you are in the development cycle, we want you to make the right decision when choosing an SDK through the Google Play SDK Index. We will also add more data indicators, categories, and include more SDKs, please continue to pay attention to subsequent updates.

For more information please:

• Watch the " Google Play Update at a Glance " and " Android Studio Update at a Glance " I/O talk videos
• See how to make the right choice using Google Play SDK indexing .
• Review best practices for keeping users safe